Three survive plane crash at wilderness airstrip
<p><strong>Kalispell Fire Department</strong> medical personnel transport three injured men from the Two Bear Air helicopter Tuesday at Kalispell City Airport. The men were airlifted from the Schafer Meadows Airstrip in the Great Bear Wilderness after their plane crashed. (Matt Hudson/Daily Inter Lake)</p><p></p>
Three people survived a plane crash Tuesday morning at the Schafer Meadows Airstrip in the Great Bear Wilderness Area.
The Two Bear Air helicopter was dispatched to retrieve the injured men, who were flown to Kalispell City Airport to meet medical responders.
One of the men was able to stand. Another was bandaged on his limbs, with gashes covering his arms. A third man didn’t sit or stand but was responsive.
He was moved via stretcher to a Kalispell Fire Department ambulance.
The men were taken to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.
The crash occurred about 11 a.m., according to Spotted Bear District Ranger Deb Mucklow.
She said the plane was a commercial charter flying people in to Schafer who then planned to raft down the upper reaches of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.
Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said the Cessna 206 was owned by Red Eagle Aviation in Kalispell. He said that the plane was wrecked in the trees off the west end of the Schafer runway. He called the damage substantial.
The hospital’s ALERT helicopter was not in operation when the crash was reported.
Mucklow said that the airstrip is still operational despite the crash.
“Schafer Meadows is open,” she said. “There’s no damage or limitation on anyone using the airstrip.”
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the crash.